It is well known to charge batteries of electric vehicles with the aid of chargers, and also to make use of charging algorithms, that prescribe charging currents and voltages as a function of time and other parameters.
EP 1 455 431 relates to an on-board charger in which the specific technical difficulties that arise when a charger needs to be able to charge different vehicles under various circumstances do not occur.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,483,272 relates to an on board bicycle battery.
US 2010/161482 relates to a billing system.
Some chargers even offer the possibility to choose between multiple charging algorithms that are optimised for different situations or batteries.
However, these optimisations are done upfront, in particular when the charger is manufactured. This has several disadvantages. The charger may not comprise optimal algorithms for the actual situations it is used in, or the situation and circumstances may change, or better algorithms may be developed after manufacture of the charger.
These disadvantages take place for off-board chargers, that is, chargers that are not arranged on-board of a vehicle, and adapted to said vehicle or its battery, but rather at a charge station. These chargers are not optimised for one specific vehicle or battery, but need to be able to meet the requirements of various vehicle types arriving to be charged at the charge station. The present invention relates to off-board chargers for use at a charging station, and in particular, chargers having multiple power exchange ports for charging multiple vehicles at a time.